Coiler mechanism



May 16, 1961 P. B. WEST ETAL COILER MECHANISM Original Filed May 22, 1956 J far United States Patent COILER MECHANISM Paul B. West, Kennebunk, and Gordon C. Anderson, Biddeford, Maine, assignors to Saco-Lowell Shops, Biddeford, Maine, a corporation of Maine Original application May 22, 1956, Ser. No. 586,476,

now Patent No. 2,866,232, dated Dec. 30,1958. Divided and this application. July 19, 1957, Scr. No.

4 Claims. (Cl. 19159,)

This invention relates generally to textile machinery,

and is a division of our application Ser. No. 586,476, filed May 22, 1956, now Patent No. 2,866,232. More particularly, it relates to an improved coiler mechanism ventionally, this coiler mechanism consists of a large gear which is rotated about a vertical axis and which carries for rotation therewith. an inclined tube having, its outlet end disposed above an orifice or passage through the gear, and its inlet end disposed beneath a pair of-delivery rolls to feed the sliver to the tube. As the tube gear rotates, the sliver is conducted through the tube to the orifice formed in the gear whenceit is deposited in overlapping coils.

Heretofore, the tube has been cast as anintegral part of the coiler head, the latter being rigidly supported above the gear by means of a coiler plat-e. Although this arrangement hasproven satisfactory in most respects, it does not permit ready access to the interior of the tube, particularly its delivery end, when the sliver becomes clogged therein as sometimeshappens.

Also, there is generally included in the plate of a conventional coiler mechanism, a circularopening whereby the under surface ofthe gear is exposed; and a circular groove or race "adjacent the edge of the opening to receive a down-turned rim on the gear. Because of the heavy frictional drag which is occasioned by this mounting arrangement forthe gear, most of the power necessary to drive the ,gear is wasted. Then. too, .lubrication of the race is required to prevent excessive wear and to lessen the frictional. drag -as much as possible, and such inbrication tends to pickup cotton 'fly.-

It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a tube for a coiler mechanism which is adapted to be tilted away from the delivery rolls so as to facilitate removal of the sliver when the tube becomes clogged.

-It is another object of the'invention to provide a stop motion so that the operation of the coiler mechanism may be caused to cease automatically when the tube becomes clopped with the sliver.

It is still another object to provide a novel switch mechanism responsive to the above-mentioned stop motion.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved mounting arrangement for the tube gear which eliminates the need for lubrication and at the sametime permits the tube gear to rotate much more freely so that considerably less driving power is required therefor.

The novel features of this invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent from the following description of a hatented May 16, 1961 preferred embodiment'of the invention wherein reference will be hadto the accompanying drawings. in the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the coiler mechanism in ascordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is asectionalview taken on line 2--'2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a view on an enlarged scale of a portion'of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2.

With reference first to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be observed that the coiler mechanism of the present invention includes a tube gear 12- which is caused to rotate about a vertical axis by means of a pinion 13 mounted on the output shaft of a suitable speed reducing gear box 10. Aflixed to the gear 12 is a housing 16 adapted to pivotally support an inclined tube 14. To this end, there is clamped to the tube v14, at an intermediate point lengthwise thereof, a collar member 15 which is provided with a yoke in the form of a pair of depending portions 15' astride the housing 16. A shaft 17, horizontally mounted by" the housing and extending through the sides thereof for rigid attachment to the portions 15' serves to pivotally mount the collar 15 and hence the tube 14, as shown. As is conventional, a pair of delivery rolls 18 and 19 are disposed above the receiving end of the tube to draw the sliver through a trumpet 20, and disposed below the lower or outlet end of'the tube there is an orificeZl in the tube gear 12 from which the sliver .is deposited.

With particular reference to Fig. 2, it will be observed further that gear 12 has an up-turned rim 12' which carries the gear teeth 27, and above the teeth there is a circumferential race or groove 28 having a smooth concave surface. Angularly spaced about the periphery of the gear are four circular rollers 29 having convex peripheral surfaces in rolling contact with the surface defining the groove. Rollers 29 are individually mounted for rotation independently of one another on vertically disposed stub shafts 3-1 aflixed to a coiler plate '30. In this way, the gear is supported with its under surface substantially in the plane of the lower surface of the plate. A portion of a roving can 32 'to collect the sliver issuing from the orifice 21 is shown beneath the gear 12, the under surface of the latter being exposed by the provision of a circular opening in the plate of diameter slightly-larger than that of the gear itself, as is conventional. Roving can 32 is rotated at a somewhat lesser speed than gear 12, although the means whereby this is done have not been shown since they form no part of the present invention.

As shown in Figs. 2 and3 there is keyed to shaft 17 interiorly of .the' housing 16 a pivotal lever 33, mounting at its end .remotefrorn. the shaft a roller 34. When the tube 14 is in its normal position with its receiving end beneath the delivery rolls 18 and 1?, roller 34 is engaged by a plunger '35 which is slidably mounted in the housing 16 and urged towards the roller by a compression spring 36. The end of plunger 35 in contact with roller 34 is formed with blade-like edges, and the upper edge, as shown in Fig. 2, rides under the roller. In this way, an over-center device having a toggle-like action is provided which maintains the tube 14 in its normal position under normal operating conditions.

Should the sliver become clogged in the tube, however, the force fed pile-up of sliver at the receiving end of the tube causes the tube to tilt or pivot about the axis of shaft 17 so that the roller 34 rides over the leftward extremity of the plunger 35, thereby passing over center. As shown in Fig. 3, this frees the plunger, permitting movement thereof to the left, under the influence of spring 36, whereby an electrical switch 37 is actuated.

* In particular, there is provided for the actuation of 'are retained in bores in the respective plungers.

'toward the right. extremity of plunger 39 is thus caused to project beyond .the gear, (Fig. 2), and a second position wherein this :extremity is moved radially beyond the periphery of the gear in response to the leftward movement of plunger -35, reflecting a predetermined amount of tilting movement of the tube 14. The intermediate portion of the .pin 38 fits loosely in a bore provided for the purpose in a portion of the housing assembly, and the ends of the pin As shown, pin 38 is doubly tapered, that is, larger at its center than at either of its ends whereby rounded nublike portions are formed. Since the aforementioned housing portion is fixed, an effective fulcrum is provided for the intermediate portion of the pin so that as the plunger 35 moves toward the left, plunger 39 which is slidably mounted on the gear 12, is moved by the pin As aforementioned, the rightward the periphery of the gear 12, where a pivotally mounted rocker arm 40 is provided for engagement therewith when the gear 12 rotates the plunger into an angular position adjacent the rocker arm. The rocker arm, in

'turn, is contoured with a cam-like surface adjacent the gear 12 such that as the plunger 39 continues to rotate,

'the rocker arm is pivoted away from the gear by the plunger 39, depressing the roller-type actuating arm of ,switch 37, sufficiently to actuate the switch.

It follows that in combination with the tilting mechanism for the tube, there has been provided a novel switch mechanism which is actuated automatically by the tilting -movement of the tube when the sliver becomes clogged 'therein. mechanism, or simply to energize an alarm device, either The switch may be employed to stop the coiler of which functions may be provided for relatively easily by those skilled in the art. No doubt various modifica- -tions of the above-described embodiment that are within the spirit and scope of the invention will occur to those skilled in the art and therefore what is claimed is:

1. In a coiler mechanism including a tube gear with an orifice therein to deposit sliver in a coil, the combination with said gear of a plurality of rollers to support the gear for rotation in a substantially horizontal plane, and

means to mount said rollers for rotation independently "of one another about fixed individual axes angularly .spaced about the periphery of said gear, said gear having a vertical circumferential edge and being provided on its vertical circumferential edge with a circumferential race and said rollers being disposed with their peripheral extremities within said race engaging said gear at said race for rolling contact with the surface thereof.

2. In a coiler mechanism including a horizontal tube gear with an orifice therein to deposit sliver in a coil, and -a plate disposed substantially in the plane of said gear with an opening therein to expose substantially the whole of the under surface of said gear including said orifice, the combination with said gear and said plate of a number of upstanding stub shafts rigidly attached to said plate, said shafts being disposed in a circle concentric about said opening, and a like number of circular rollers rotatably mounted on said stub shafts, respectively, said gear being provided with a circumferential groove defining a smooth concave roller engaging surface, and said rollers having convex peripheral surfaces for rolling contact with the surface defining said groove.

3. In a coiler mechanism including a pair of relatively rotatable members comprising a horizontal tube gear with an orifice therein to deposit sliver in a coil, and a plate disposed substantially in the plane of said gear with an opening therein to expose substantially the whole of the under surface of said gear including said orifice, the combination with said pair of relatively rotating members of a number of vertical stub shafts rigidly attached to one of said members, said shafts being disposed in a circle concentric about said one member and angularly spaced about said one member, and a like number of circular rollers rotatably mounted on said stub shafts respectively for rotation in a horizontal plane, said other member being provided with a smooth circumferential roller engaging surface extending beyond the edges of said rollers defining a roller engaging surface, and said rollers having peripheral surfaces in rolling contact with said overlapping surfaces supporting from beneath said one member for rotation relatively to said other member.

4. In a coiler mechanism including a pair of relatively rotatable members comprising a horizontal tube gear with an orifice therein to deposit sliver in a coil, and a plate disposed substantially in the plane of said gear with an opening therein to expose substantially the whole of the under surface of said gear including said orifice, the combination with said pair of relatively rotating members of a number of upstanding vertical stub shafts rigidly attached to one of said members, said shafts being disposed in a circle concentric about said one member and angularly spaced about said one member, and a like number of circular rollers rotatably mounted on said stub shafts respectively for rotation in a horizontal plane, said other member having a vertical circumferential edge and being provided in its vertical circumferential edge with a circumferential groove defining a smooth concave roller engaging surface, and said rollers having mating convex peripheral surfaces in rolling contact with said surface providing the sole means both supporting said one member for rotation relatively to said other member and restraining relative axial displacement of said members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,700,797 Robinson Feb. 1, 1955 2,728,113 Watson et a1. Dec. 27, 1955 2,832,099 Jackson Apr. 29, 1958 

